ZAMBOANGA CITY, 27 August — The spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday claimed that members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are themselves selling weapons to Abu Sayyaf extremists.
“We know for a fact that they (Abu Sayyaf) are getting firearms from the military. They buy these from the Southcom,” Eid Kabalu told reporters yesterday in a telephone conference call, referring to the AFP’s Southern Command based in Zamboanga City.
“That’s a fact. The military, particularly the Southern Command, has been selling firearms to the bandits since 1992,” Kabalu said. Kabalu said one proof was the recoilless rifles used by the Abu Sayyaf, which were only in the military’s armory.
The military’s chief spokesman in Manila moved quickly to rebuff the accusations.
“He is a rebel propagandist so I don’t think his statements should be given any importance,” Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said. “Such statements are expected of him being an enemy of the state.”
He said it was the 12,500-member MILF, which signed a cease-fire with the government earlier this month, which was coddling the Abu Sayyaf, giving them sanctuary when attacked by the military in the southern island of Basilan.
Kabalu hurled the accusations amid a congressional inquiry into alleged collusion between the Abu Sayyaf and certain military officers in kidnapping activities.
Congress is conducting an inquiry into allegations by a Basilan-based Roman Catholic priest, Cirilo Nacorda, that five officers including an army general connived with the Abu Sayyaf and allowed the bandits to slip through a military cordon last June 2.
He also testified that the kidnappers use guns marked with a military insignia. The officers have denied the allegations and in turn suggested Nacorda was in league with the gunmen, sparking outrage among the country’s influential bishops.
“Do not divert the issue. What they should do is investigate those accused by Father Cirilo Nacorda,” Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines Conference said.
He said the bishops had carried out their own investigation of Nacorda, 44, who was held for several months by the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan in 1994. “In the end, we concluded that he was very sincere in his statements and allegations.”
Armed forces chief of staff Gen. Diomedio Villanueva said Sunday that the Abu Sayyaf “has benefited from these allegations.”
Ambuscade
Continuing their war of words, the military yesterday raised suspicion that MILF fighters participated in an ambush on a passenger jeep on Saturday in Sumisip town of Basilan, during which several people, including some soldiers, were killed.
Kabalu said their fighters “definitely have nothing to do” with the attack but he remarked that the soldiers were traveling on a camouflage by using a civilian vehicle.
He said there were reports that the same soldiers were part a unit who conducted an operation at Barangays Pamatsakin and Irilly in Sumisip on Aug. 22, 2001, killing one and wounding another member of the MILF’s Internal Security Forces (ISF) headed by Hadji Amir Migkong.
